Machine for cutting down trees.



L. BONNER & W. COLBERT.

MACHINE FOR cumwe ooww TREES.

APPL|CAT!ON FILED APR- 3, 1915. v 1,182,976, Patented May 16, 1916.

2 SH EETSSHEET 1.

lQzli zesses In uevz bars I LOX 60111191 @M ZQILZSOH/ Colbert QMGP V I Mam 22 aw L. CONNER & W. COLBERT,

MACHINE FOR CUTTING DOWN TREES.

APPLICATION HLED APR-3,1915.

Patented May 16, 1916.

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% 7 Lox Conflei" LUiLson Colbert UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LOX CONNEB AND WILSON COLIBERT, 0F DEDHAM, IOWA.

MACHINE FOB CUTTING- DOWN TREES.

Specification Letters Patent.

Application filed April 8, 1915. Serial No. 18,919.

i To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, Lox Corinna and WILSON CoLBER'r, citizens" of the United.-

States, residing at Dedham, in Carroll county, in the State of Iowa, have invented new and useful Improvements in Machines for Cutting Down Trees, of which the foldevice of this kind furnished with a powerdriven saw-blade and means for adjusting said blade vertically and shifting the same.

horizontally.

Our invention also includes various novel features of construction, which are-hereinafter particularly described and pointed out in the claim. v

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation illustrating in solid lines 'a machine embodying our invention and in dotted lines the rear wheel and axle of an ordinary vehicle (carrying a source of power), to which said machine is attached; 2 is a plan View of the machine, Fig. 3 is an end elevationthereof, the rear end of the frame being broken away to-more clearly illustrate the device, Fig. 4 is a detail plan view of the carriage and Fig. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of the vertically adjustable saw-supporting frame on said carriage.

Our invention consists primarily of a.

truck, a carriage slidable transversely on said truck and a vertically adjustable sawsupporting frame on the carriage. Said carriage is designed to be Tnoved upon the truck to shift the saw toward and away from a tree, and the frame is arranged to be adjusted vertically upon said carriage to vary the height of the cut.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, we have used the reference letter A to indicate the truck, B the carriage and C the supporting frame.

The truck A. is of the trailer type and includes a pair of channeled beams 10 resting at their rear ends on an aXle 11, upon which supporting wheels 12 are journaled. Said beams extend forward from said axle in parallel relation with respect to each other, then converge and are joined by a coupling 13, adapted to be pivotally mounted upon the rear axle'of another vehicle.

The carriage B is made up of a pair of channel bars 14 secured parallel to each other by cross pieces 15 and is slidable transversely upon the truck A. The mounting for said carriage is formed by two rollers 16 for each bar 14, said rollers being revoluble in bearings 17 upon the beams 10 of the truck A and adapted to roll in the ways formed between the depending flanges of sald bars. Keepers 18 are suppliedto secure the carriage B from tilting uponsaid rollers 16. For this purpose we prefer to use small rollers, revoluble in the bearings 17 adapted to bear against the upper surfaces of said bars 14. Shafts 19 are jour naled transversely in the ends of the bars 14, and each shaftcarries a spur gear 20 at each end thereof, anda worm wheel 21 between said spur gears. The shaft 22 having a hand-wheel 23 thereon is journaledlongitudinally with respect to the carriage B in bearings 24 on the cross pieces 15. Thls shaft carries two worms 25, one being in mesh with the worm wheel 21 at one end of the carriage B and the other in mesh shaped bars a rack 28 is secured (see Fig.-

5). One of the spur gears 20 on the carriage B meshes with each rack 28 and the flanges of the bars 27 embrace the sides of the gears 20, thus retaining said gears in mesh with the racks 28. Manipulation of the handwheel 23 operates'through'the worms 25 and worm-wheels 21 to turn the gears 20 and raise and lower the frame 0. It will be noted that the arrangement described provides for the accurate vertical adjustment of the saw-blade. Such accurate adjustment is often necessary, for eXample,'in cutting down a large tree Where it is required to make several kerfs in the same plane before the trunk is severed. The spur gears 20 support the frame C at each corner thereof and operate to lift said frame efficiently without binding or distorting the same. Said spur gears 20 are normally locked against rotation by the worms 25 and worm wheels 21, but may be readil turned as above described to adjust the rame C. A horizontal-drive shaft 29 journaled in bear- Patented May 16, 1916.

ings on braces 31 joining the channel bars 27, is supplied with a long pulley 32 and a bevel gear wheel 33. A vertical driven shaft 34, carrying a circular sawlade 35, at its lower end, is revoluble in bearings 36 attached to braces 37 between the channel bars 27 at one end of theframe. Said vertical shaft is provided at its upper end with a bevel gear 38 in mesh with the bevel gear 33 on the drive-shaft 3e and is secured against vertical movements in its bearings 36 by collars 39. A belt 40 driven by a suitable power device (not shown) passes over the pulley 32 and slides from one end there-- l on a bar H of the carriage. Manipulation of this lever shifts the carriage B and moves the saw-supporting frame C longitudinally therewith. A hand-operated yielding lug ,45 on the lever 41 is adapted to ,engage notches 46 of a quadrant-47 on said bracket and secure the lever, thus locking the carriage in place.

he frame 0, as above described, permits the adjustment of the saw-blade from the surface of the ground upward to an eleva-' tion of two or three feet. It is sometimes desirable, however, that the stump of a tree be five or six feet in height to serve as a fence post or the like. We adapt our saw to be elevated for this purpose by adding U- shaped channel bars 48 identical with said bars 27 and securing the same in'upright position on the bars 27 as shown in dotted lines in Figs. 1, 2, and 3. The legs of these.

bars are provided with racks/l9 identical with those of the bars 27 and the frame C is inverted to bring said racks in mesh with the spur gears 20 of the carria e. By thus inverting the frame 0 it will e seen that the saw'is raised a considerable distance and is capable of the same range of adjustment in such elevated position as in the low position first described.

In use the machine is hauled near the tree to be felled and the hand-wheel 23 is turned to raise or lower the frame C and thus procure the desired vertical adjustment of the saw-blade 35. The lever 41 is swung to the right, as seen in Fig. 2, after the dog has been disengaged from the quadrant 4:7 and such shifting-of the lever moves the carriage B and presses the teeth of the saw' the truc by means of t e lever 41 and the saw supporting frame C is secured in position upon said carriage by the frame ad usting mechanism. H

- Having described ourv invention, what we claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

In a machine for cutting down trees, a truck, a carriage movable horizontally on said truck, transverse shafts revoluble in said carriage, a pair of gear wheels and a worm wheel on each of said shafts, a reversible frame, a power-driven circular saw blade revolubly mounted on one end of said frame, a set of upright racks on opposite sides of the frame, each set of racks being arranged to mesh one at a time with said gear wheels, a worm in mesh with each worm wheel and means, forv simultaneously turning said worms to raise and lower said frame, said parts. being-arranged to permit the horizontal cutting movement of the blade a distance substantially equal to its radius. In testimony whereof, we have signed our names to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LOX CONNER.

WILSON COLBERT.

- Witnesses:

L. M. Lyons, W- H 

